2002 Ferrari 575 6 Speed Manual on 2040-cars

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Former Top Gear crew starts filming for Amazon show

We might have only a hint at the name and no exact date for a premiere, but fans can celebrate that Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May are filming once again. Plus, it looks like every cent of Amazon's reportedly lavish budget is being put on the screen. A photo tweeted by Clarkson shows the three hosts standing proudly in front of a Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari, and McLaren P1 at a racetrack. Clarkson jokes that the show has just a "skeleton crew" but behind him stand several dozen people, a sophisticated-looking camera rig, and two big trucks. This definitely looks worth the anticipation of the premiere on Amazon Prime next fall. Hammond tweeted the same picture and wrote: "The band is back together and it feels brilliant." This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Intriguingly, it appears that fellow British auto journalist Chris Harris is currently filming at the same track. He tweeted a photo to Clarkson of the McLaren doing a very smoky slide, while being followed by the other two hypercars. The Porsches in both photos wear the same red-and-white number 3 livery and have the same license plate number. In a later message, Harris was also clear that he wasn't filming there in connection with the trio's Amazon show. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

European Auto Group in Texas building a six-speed manual Ferrari 458

In February, European Auto Group in San Antonio, Texas, went public with our kind of wonder car: A Ferrari F430 Scuderia with a gated six-speed manual transmission. The standard F430 did offer a six-speed manual from the factory; the hardcore Scuderia version did not. It took a lot of work, and EAG apparently did the work right; Matt Farah called the coupe "The world's greatest Ferrari." CarBuzz spoke to EAG owner Art Bartosik about what's next, and Bartosik spilled just a bit of goss about the car he'll soon reveal: a Ferrari 458 with a gated six-speed manual. Whereas the 430 Scuderia didn't offer a stickshift, the 458 Italia wasn't even designed with one in mind. The 4.5-liter V8 with 562 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque only ever swapped gears with the Italian carmaker's dual-clutch F1 transmission. The 458 has a manageable 52 hp and 51 lb-ft more than the F430 Scuderia, but EAG needed to work up a gearbox to fit the available space. Bartosik didn't divulge how he made that happen for the 458. The reworked F430 Scuderia used all OEM Ferrari parts since they were available; not so for the later car. The DuPont Registry said EAG built "a transmission with upgraded synchros" to handle the additional power, had to find a suitable clutch and suggests the firm went through a lot of prototypes, but doesn't ID the gearbox source. All Bartosik would tell CB is that there's a limited supply and he'll "only be able to build around 10 or 11 of them." Seems there are already more customers than that ready to wire funds for purchase, unsurprisingly. Bartosik said, "People are screaming for a manual 458 and 488. If the demand wasn't there, we wouldn't do it." A final development car is a few months away, with customer builds scheduled to begin in January 2020. And what might EAG do after the run is complete? Maybe a six-speed manual Lamborghini Huracan, which owners have already asked about. "The Huracan should be easier than Ferrari," Bartosik said, "because there's hidden stuff in there that gives us more flexibility." Seems manual gearboxes, like life in "Jurassic Park," will always find a way.

Macron and Le Pen decry 'shocking' Stellantis CEO pay

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger in the French presidential vote, Marine Le Pen, on Friday both decried as “shocking” the multimillion euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis. Stellantis CEO Carlos TavaresÂ’ remuneration package of 19.15 million euros just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Macron and Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff vote. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are a top voter concern. Stellantis was formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron, perceived by many voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package “astronomical” and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on “abusive” executive pay. “ItÂ’s shocking, itÂ’s excessive,” he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info. “People canÂ’t have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish theyÂ’re living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.” Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, called for bringing in more workers as shareholders. “Of course itÂ’s shocking, and itÂ’s even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty,” she said Friday on BFM television. “One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders.” Stellantis continued to back the package despite a 52.1% to 47.9% vote rejecting it at an annual shareholders' meeting chaired from the Netherlands, where the company is legally based, on Wednesday. The company, citing Dutch civil code, noted that the vote is advisory and not binding. The company later said in a statement that it took note of the vote, and will explain in an upcoming 2022 remuneration report “how this vote has been taken into account.” In the 2021 report, the company identified peer group companies that it used as a salary benchmark, including U.S. companies like Boeing, Exxon Mobile, General Electric as well as carmakers Ford and General Motors. Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Maserati, reported net profits last year had tripled to 13.4 billion euros ($15.2 billion). The French government is the third-largest shareholder in Stellantis, with a 6.15% stake through the Bpifrance Participations S.A. French public investment bank.